This is the Nonprofit Leaders Network Podcast: Episode 5. Today we’re talking with Josh Brooks, Executive Director of Ensuring Charity Foundation. Here are a few highlights: THE BOARD LEADS THE WAY IN GIVING: The first group of people that we went to was the board. Julie, my wife, and I established an endowment. Dave and Debbie also established an endowment and then Wayne and his wife, Lanie, established an endowment. So the board put their money where their mouth is. I also had a couple of close associates who were wanting to be philanthropic and I described this vision to them and they were interested as well. WAYS TO STAY IN TOUCH: Something I read recommended ten touches a year. So we make a phone call to each of our endowment founders quarterly, send happy holiday cards, Christmas cards, and 4th of July cards which no one else does. So, that kind of gets a little bit extra attention. We'll probably send Veterans Day cards out because a large part of our group so far is military folks. We are doing a semi-annual newsletter and then we've got the end-of-the-year campaign which includes the thank you phone call, a thank you letter, an annual report on how the foundation is performing, and then, of course, toward the end of the holiday season, the annual solicitation. Last thing, we also do an annual gift. You know, paper weight or a key chain or something like that. So, if you're an endowment founder, you'll hear from the Enduring Charity Foundation at least ten times a year. SET AND TRACK GOALS: The great success for the first year is that we achieved and then went beyond our initial goals. The way that I describe the first year to people is it happened in thirds. The first third was establishing the organization, getting the bank accounts and ensuring that we were following regulations and laws. The second third was getting our tax exempt status. The last third was setting up seven endowments totaling $25,000 which will generate a thousand dollars or so of support to those designated charities year in and year out forever. So, it was a pretty darn good first year. Find more information on the podcast at www.SocialGoodInstigators.com.